There's no way to argue with a fan base that has sold out Gillette Stadium since it opened -- pushing the Patriots' streak to 149 games, including playoffs -- and is willing to join a waiting list 50,000 deep to get a crack at season tickets someday. On-field dominance will do that. It will be interesting to see how the addition of Patriot Place -- a commercial development that offers shopping, restaurants, a movie theater and a medical center -- will affect the game-day dynamic. Do you throw Italian sausages on the grill or grab a teriyaki burger at Red Robin? One sounds more festive than the other.

I don't see it being that big a deal. Tailgaters will keep on tailgating. Hell, I tailgated at the Meadowlands the day after Christmas for Jets/Pats Monday night a couple years ago. It was so windy my charcoal grill blew away. And I imagine most tailgaters are the same way.

No, they just have a very, very, very hardcore loyal fanbase. Something that, according to ESPN, we don't.

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Have to agree with them to an extent. Sure, we have a hardcore central group of fans, but before Parcells (and then later BB) changed the success of the team, they were fourth in this town behind the Red Sox, celtics, and even the Bruins (before the hockey strike).

Im so sick and tired of pats fans taking shots at our fan base on these boards. We have a great fan base. We have the 8th longest consecutive sell out streak in the NFL, the fifth highest wait lists for season tickets (paid by the way) which grew mostly before we won a superbowl, we travel great etc. etc. etc. Yes we at one point were the fourth team in Boston and a joke supposedly but guess what.....THAT WAS 17 YEARS AGO. Its time to get over it! We have a great fan base now and the Pats have become part of what it means to be from New England

Here's how the Pats scored on their point system, with 1 being great and 5 the worst...

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Yeah nice. A scale of 1-5 on how well you stick with a loser... written by guys who were 12 when last we had a losing season.

I think there's some bandwagon jumpers sure, but most people remember our cyclical decline into and rise out of 1-15 ashes, most recently in the 90s. I know there's this "accusation" that our fans are all bandwagon jumpers, but since bandwagon jumpers by definition are attracted to good teams, you can hardly avoid attracting them.

In terms of suffering through some suck-***** teams, I think plenty of us have done that. I could see giving us a 2 or 3, because we can't talk about that kind of loyalty like Brownies can, certainly not in any current way. They've never won anything in the SB era, and still show up. But what can I say? I grew up from age 6 in a VA town. There was one other Pats fan in town. Once we got to HS we drove to Baltimore, about 90 miles, once a year for the Colts game... without having any ability to see the team at home. Is that so unusual for Pats fans? I never thought so.

Im so sick and tired of pats fans taking shots at our fan base on these boards. We have a great fan base. We have the 8th longest consecutive sell out streak in the NFL, the fifth highest wait lists for season tickets (paid by the way) which grew mostly before we won a superbowl, we travel great etc. etc. etc. Yes we at one point were the fourth team in Boston and a joke supposedly but guess what.....THAT WAS 17 YEARS AGO. Its time to get over it! We have a great fan base now and the Pats have become part of what it means to be from New England

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I endorse this post. I think some fans feel insecure about following this team due to its unprecedented success. But they forget that before the new corporate-friendly Gillette Stadium was built, the old Foxboro Stadium was one of the most loud and intimidating places in the league. Eagles fans are suffering from the same problem in their new stadium. Also, I think ESPN underestimated our traveling fans. I remember somebody saying on here that a Packers fan told them that Pats fans were the most well represented away fans at Lambeau in recent years.